highlights
Latest
MLB Network launches Strike Zone all-highlights channel on four providers
For football fans the NFL Red Zone and ESPN Goal Line Channels have streamlined game day viewing by focusing on switching between scoring opportunities from simultaneously airing games and now Major League Baseball has its own version (there's already a web edition dubbed Full Count). The MLB Network Strike Zone went live Tuesday night on Bright House Networks, DirecTV, Dish Network and Time Warner Cable, airing live look-ins on league games and highlights without any commercial breaks. Although there are baseball games throughout the week, Strike Zone will only broadcast on Tuesday and Friday nights during the regular season. We're not entirely convinced this will work as well as baseball or cause people to sign up for the sports tiers it seems to mostly be placed on the same way its football counterparts have, but it might be just the thing for baseball fans that can't stand following just one game at a time. Check the press release after the break for channel lineup details, and let us know if you've had a chance to check it out yet.
Adéu, Barcelona: Mobile World Congress 2012 comes to a close
The mobile world's biggest players have exhausted themselves again, taking us with them in the process. While HTC and Nokia seemed to grab a lot of the attention, Samsung stayed quiet -- at least for now -- there was still a veritable pile of devices and news to cover from everyone else. Let's take a look at what caught our attention during the week.
Chegg's online textbooks hope to captivate minds, market share (video)
Someone's about to get schooled, and if it's not the youth of America, then it'll be one of the companies rushing to release educational products this week. While Kno takes the interactive approach, and Apple typically keeps us guessing, Chegg hopes its new online reader will capture students' imaginations. The HTML5, cloud-based platform clearly thinks it's portability the kids want, working on almost any connected device. There are interactive features, such as an "Always on Q&A" where questions about material can be answered by the community and -- for the lazy -- a "Key Highlights" option, which uses crowd-sourced data to spotlight the popular sections -- much like on Amazon's Kindle. We all know, however, that the tech-ucation battle was convincingly won some time ago. Hit the PR after the break for the full rundown.
Daily iPad App: Highlights
Today's daily iPad app is Highlights, an app that lets you find new and interesting places around you based on crowd sourced recommendations from check-in services Gowalla and Foursquare. The app works by scanning Gowalla and Foursquare reviews and then processing them through Highlights' ranking systems. The results are then presented to you on an interactive Google Map. By default the app works by using your current location, but you can enter almost any address on the globe to get recommendations. This is especially handy for when you're planning a trip to another city. Highlights also features a "recommend in this area button." When tapped you'll see a list of the top spots in your currently viewed area divided into categories like culture, religion, arts, education, entertainment, food, hotels, nightlife, great days out, and more. As with other apps that spotlight cool areas around you, Highlights lets you narrow your search by category. It also offers basic translation of reviews into some other languages -- a nice feature for international travelers. Also besides the ability to search and browse places around you Highlights offers a planner feature that allows you to save those places to an itinerary. It even offers you pre-made itineraries via Gowalla Trips. Highlights' user interface is clean and easily navigable with large icons representing the categories of discovered venues. The app is also universal, so it runs on both the iPad and iPhone. The only immediate improvement the app needs is the ability to convert kilometers into miles. Though the metric system is far superior and easier to use, many in America may be put off by only having distances measured in kilometers. Highlights has found a permanent spot on my iPad and iPhone home screen. It's available in the App Store for US$0.99.
Nintendo admits its Wii U highlight reel was spiced up with PS3 and Xbox 360 footage
Nintendo's E3 2011 keynote yesterday gave the world its first official look at the all-new Wii U hardware plus (we thought) a glimpse at the graphical capabilities of its next console. As it turns out, the impressive list of upcoming games for the 2012-bound console was just that, a list, with the visuals we saw on screen coming from PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of said titles. Nintendo of America chief Reggie Fils-Aime has confirmed that to be the case in an interview with GameTrailers, where he also points out that the eventual Wii U games will look at least as good as their PS3 / 360 counterparts. Which is why, in his eyes, it's okay to show us those games being played on the competition's (current-gen) hardware. He does remind us that the Wii U will be delivering graphics at a 1080p resolution, and points to the garden tech demo that also graced E3 as an indicator of what can be done with Nintendo's next console. That's all well and good, but maybe tell us in advance next time, Reggie?
Star Wars: The Old Republic highlights the PAX East experience
The number of people who stood in line for hours just for the chance to play Star Wars: The Old Republic at PAX East is incredible. We have heard reports of people going through the hours-long wait two and three times just because they enjoyed the game so much, which just goes to show the dedication these fans have not only for the game but for the Star Wars brand. To commemorate that experience, the community team for SWTOR has put together a video of the drama that was this year's PAX East. The crowds, the lines, and the fans really brought the experience together. The video runs just over three minutes, and it takes you through the crowds rushing to the booth, fans experiencing the game, and exhibitors showing off one of the most anticipated MMOs of the year. Pop past the break to see the video and taste the a little bit of the SWTOR PAX experience for yourself.
EVE Online Fanfest 2011 roundup: Day 1
Once per year, EVE Online developer CCP Games throws a colossal party in its home country of Iceland. EVE players from around the world fly to Iceland to meet up with other players, talk about internet spaceships and usually get completely drunk. CCP hosts a series of events, round-table discussions and presentations all about EVE, showing what the team has been up to over the past year and revealing plans for the game's ongoing development. Fanfest has typically catered to EVE's most dedicated fans, or at least those motivated enough at the prospect of an EVE convention to brace the Icelandic weather. This year, the focus is much wider, with over 3,000 players in attendance and a huge contingent of press. Day one of the EVE Fanfest has come to a close, and the event is now in full swing. Read on for a roundup of what happened today, along with detailed explanations of a few personal highlights from today's festivities.
Adéu, Barcelona: Mobile World Congress 2011 is over
We've still got a handful of posts in the pipeline, but with the gates closed and everyone in the air heading back to their respective homes, our adventures at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona have come to a close. The good news is we can return to our regular four of hours of sleep each night (a figure that was cut in half this week). The bad news is the heartache of leaving behind gorgeous scenery and delicious paella. Take a look at some of our highlights below! Microsoft Microsoft shows off WP7's future with multitasking, Twitter integration, and IE9, all coming this year Windows Phone 7's multitasking uses zoomed-out cards to check on your apps Microsoft Rally Ball demo shows Windows Phone 7, Kinect, Xbox Live living in perfect harmony (video) Windows Phone 7 update with copy and paste, CDMA support coming in 'early March' See the new Windows Phone 7 features in motion (video) Live from Steve Ballmer's MWC 2011 keynote! Nokia The Engadget Interview: Nokia CEO Stephen Elop talks Microsoft, Symbian, MeeGo, and Windows Phone Debunk: Elop never said Microsoft is paying Nokia billions of dollars to use Windows Phone The Engadget Interview: Microsoft's Aaron Woodman talks Windows Phone 7 and Nokia Nokia: 'Our first priority is beating Android' Nokia hints we'll see first Windows Phone 7 device this year Live from 'An Evening With Nokia' at MWC 2011! HTC HTC launches 1.5GHz, 7-inch Android 2.4 Flyer into the tablet wars (update: hands-on video!) HTC Flyer vs. Galaxy Tab vs. iPad... fight! A closer look at the HTC Flyer's screen, stylus, and Scribe HTC refreshes Android lineup with Incredible S, Desire S and Wildfire S (update: hands-on) HTC Incredible S, Desire S, and Wildfire S video hands-on HTC Salsa and Chacha bring the dedicated Facebook button to Android (update: eyes-on) Samsung Samsung Galaxy S II official: dual-core 1GHz CPU, 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus, coming this month (hands-on with video) Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 official: Tegra 2, Honeycomb, dual cameras (hands-on with video) T-Mobile Galaxy S 4G hands-on Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 5.0 preview (video) Samsung Galaxy Ace, Gio, Fit, and mini gather for a mega hands-on Motorola Xoom vs. Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 vs. LG G-Slate -- battle of the Tegra 2 Honeycomb tablets Google Eric Schmidt: 'We certainly tried' to get Nokia to use Android Next version of Android will combine Gingerbread and Honeycomb, arrive on a six-month cycle Google demos Android Movie Studio for Honeycomb Live from Eric Schmidt's MWC 2011 keynote Google's MWC 2011 Android booth tour LG LG Optimus Pad first hands-on! (video) LG Optimus 3D hands-on Android-powered LG Revolution caught streaming Netflix at MWC (video) Motorola Xoom vs. Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 vs. LG G-Slate -- battle of the Tegra 2 Honeycomb tablets Sony Ericsson Sony Ericsson Xperia family portrait at MWC 2011 Sony Ericsson Xperia Play MWC 2011 hands-on! (updated with video) Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro first hands-on! (updated with video) Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc preview (video) Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo first hands-on! (updated with video) Live from Sony Ericsson's MWC 2011 press event!
Samsung's crazy CES 2011 keynote -- the highlight reel
It's been nearly a week and we're still trying to figure out exactly what was going on during Samsung's wild CES 2011 keynote - even though we liveblogged it, talked about it on the showcast, and named it best presser of CES, we're not sure you can fully understand the insanity of the dancers, the random moments, and a futureboy named Zoll unless you've seen it yourself. Samsung's put the whole thing up on YouTube in six segments (you can find the first below) but we cut together a little highlight reel you can watch above. Trust us -- it's worth it.
The Game Archaeologist and the Forbidden RuneScape: The highlights
The Game Archaeologist is a lazy adventurer-slash-professor who dons his trademark cap for a weekly expedition through some of the most famous MMOs of the past few decades. Each month he chooses a different title to examine its highlights, talk with its developers, and invite its fans to share their experiences. I don't know about you, but when I first heard of RuneScape a few years back, it was sold to me as "the poor person's World of Warcraft." In fact, I knew several teens who couldn't afford a monthly WoW subscription and had to "make do" with RuneScape as an alternative, and so I mentally filtered the title as being outside of my sphere of interest and moved on with my life. That was when I started to crochet. All adventurers should know how to crochet as a survival trait. In retrospect, I should've ignored the stigma and checked it out for myself, because while the above may be true for some, RuneScape deserved a lot better than to be blown off by a dismissive comment. No matter how some have pigeon-holed it as being less than worthy of proper MMO status, RuneScape is a behemoth of a game in both size, features and playerbase. In fact, as of right now, RuneScape holds the #2 spot for players, boasting a population well into the eight digits. So as of this month, we shall endeavor to put away any ignorant stances as we explore one of the most popular and longest-running MMOs of our time. Join me after the jump as I share RuneScape's greatest highlights -- and exactly why none of us should underestimate this game again.
GDC08: Highlights from GDC
Don't miss our roundup of all the highlights from GDC 2008: MMORPG highlights from GDC08 GDC08 Highlights: Age of Conan, Requiem: Bloodymare and All Points Bulletin GDC08 Highlights: Eve Online, Fusion Fall and Lego Universe GDC08 Highlights: Freaky Creatures, Habbo and Love GDC08 Highlights: The future of Virtual Worlds and the end of GDC08 %Gallery-16378%
The Daily Recap
Lawyers representing gold farmers threaten Lum the Mad Late last month Scott "Lum the Mad" Jennings put up a post on his well-known MMOG blog site about an ongoing legal battle. It involves former IGE (yeah, the gold farmers) CEO Brock Pierce and co-founder of the company Alan Debonneville. This post. Right here. Jumpgate's evolution(ary) inspirationBy now you know I'm a sci-fi geek, reporting on everything even remotely interesting (and some of our readers would say, not even that on occasion) about Tabula Rasa, Jumpgate Evolution, Stargate Worlds, Earthrise, etc ... Ask Massively: The MMeaning of (Second) LifeThere are those who claim that we spend too much time covering something that "isn't really an MMORPG" and those who assert that Second Life is an MMORPG in the truest sense of the word ... Rumor: Champions Online's table-top roots confirmedA forum post by dev team member Steve Long over on the HERO Games official forums has given us pretty convincing evidence that the recently revealed Cryptic MMO Champions Online, is in fact based on the Champions table-top roleplaying game first launched back in 1981. The Daily Grind: Would you ever play a noncombatant?Watching a recent Cinemassively, it occurred to me that in MMOs, everyone is a warrior. By that, I mean that everyone fights -- some with weapons, some with magic, etc. There are probably games out there that don't require combat as a method of advancing the game, but ...
Cheaper PS3 loses HDMI, slots, Wi-Fi, 40GB
As you can see above, there are a few things different between the two PS3 SKUs planned. (Hint: the obvious alterations concern high-def output and wireless connectivity -- though Bluetooth controllers should work just fine with both, with or without any chrome case highlighting.)So what's HDMI, built-in multimedia card-reader slots, wireless internet connectivity, and an extra 40 gigabytes' hard disk space worth to you? $100? Now that Sony's gone with the 2-SKU approach with its next-gen hardware (a la the Xbox 360's premium and "Core" systems), we can expect some tough consumer choices after six months -- with console shortages possibly for another six months after that -- as $100 separates the base $499 and premium $599 versions of Sony's "Clear Black" hope.HDMI is important to those who want to take full advantage of Blu-ray high def and have the new screens to use it; MemoryStick, SD, and CompactFlash slots would be nice for the PS3 memory-card users and those will run multimedia on the system; Wi-Fi's the only way to avoid stringing ethernet cables for online access; and 360 owners might appreciate the full 60GB available to potential buyers of the premium PS3 model. Neither model comes with a second HDMI port; thankfully, one should hopefully be all most users need. The details are laid out in a feature-comparison table at the end of Sony's official PS3 hardware press release, available in both Adobe Reader and Microsoft Word formats. Determine what's most important to your PS3 ambitions there.[Image pieced together from the PlayStation.com forums; thanks, Guru]
